The views expressed in this blog are based entirely on personal tastes and opinions. They should not be construed as professional reviews in anyway. Any resemblance to actual reviews, living or deceased, is entirely coincidental.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Shunjuu

C says:

Still on our quest to conquer everything in the Robertson Quay area during our temporary squat in River Valley, we met up with a few of A’s friends last night and tried Shunjuu, an izakaya (grilled skewers) joint next to Bella Pizza.

The selection is huge, and when faced with so many choices I tend to overestimate my appetite and always end up ordering too much. Some of the standouts that we had were:

- grilled swordfish skewers. Wow. This was my favourite. The fish was really fresh, with a wonderful texture and an almost buttery flavour.- pork belly stuffed with kimchi. I’ve recently acquired a taste for kimchi (in limited quantities), and I think it goes perfectly with pork.- chicken hearts. Some of the best grilled chicken hearts I’ve ever had. They sliced these really thinly so it’s not too icky, and grilled perfectly so they’re nice and tender. Even A, who’s distinctly not a chicken offal eater, tried and liked these.- cold udon with sesame sauce. A ordered this and was raving about it.

Various items wrapped with bacon/pork belly also featured prominently in our selection, including cheese, garlic, cherry tomatoes, scallops and okra. All were good, though anything would taste good wrapped in bacon and grilled, in my opinion.

After a heaty meal like that, we needed some kind of dessert to cleanse our palate. They only had 2 choices – a green tea ice cream and a yuzu sorbet. We ordered one of each to share. It was a good thing the yuzu sorbet wasn’t up A’s alley, because I loved it and promptly claimed it for myself. The flavour was delicate and a perfect balance of sweet orange and bitterness. A great end to the meal.

Service was excellent – they kept topping up our tea without being asked, and were very polite and efficient in taking our orders. As with all izakaya joints, it isn’t cheap, especially when you’re atetoomuch. Having said that, we did order quite a bit, and average bill was around $50 per person, which I guess is pretty standard these days for a non-austerity drive night out.

A says:

The skewered stuff is not the best I’ve had but it’s still very good. And the cold udon rocks. The wait staff are also very friendly and attentive.